A Dog for Christmas

Sissie is almost done. I think she's perfect for a Christmas Present and the best way to get a dog under the tree. She's 20x16, and done with irridescent watercolors. I can see I need to tweak the nose some more and then I'll be framing her on Friday (I hope...depends on if I have the frame). I'm so thrilled with this one, I hate to say it, but I think it's my best yet.

Karen

Facets of the Artist Statement

As I promised, even though it was suppose to be on the store blog, today's post.

In the store, I do framing. I do not have much space and so do not keep a lot of supplies around. It takes me longer to frame something, but my goal is to work with the local artists and we're a pretty laid back bunch.

So, just recently, a lady that I'd met at a show, (she was volunteering for the Humane Society), brought me a piece to mat. it was already framed, but had a white mat. She liked the white, but thought it washed out a lot of the color on this very pastel-ish print. I had a light brown, textured mat I put on it that made the sand dunes pop. When she brought it in, I'm afraid I had not paid attention to the artist, just to what would make this piece look better. As I was matting it, I realized that not only did I know the name, but have spent quite a bit of spare time in this artist's presence. She's a friend and I actually have other pieces of her work hanging in the store for sale! When the person came to pick up the piece, I told her I knew the artist and shared some of the small vignettes about what a neat "person" she was, how loving and how giving, and such a good friend. She left clutching a treasure, not a painting because she now knew that this artist was a living, breathing person that she might have talked to or passed on the street. I'm going to be talking to that artist today and requesting an artist statement of some sort that I can pass on, along with the paintings of hers that are for sale here. I might be preaching to the choir, but, and don't get me wrong, I don't have one yet, either, I think an artist's statement might be a very necessary facet of living the artist's life and selling your artwork.
Karen

Learning Curve

I went to an internet class tonight, taught by two of the top webmasters in Lincoln County. There was also a plug for SHOP LOCAL. I did get the t-shirt. Anyway, one thing I learned was that if you have a blog, you have to keep it updated. So, here's my promise to try and update this everyday.
We have a new table in the shop. It's a delightful dark, yet rich wood, with a New Home Treadle base. We'll also be setting up the Beta Max in the morning, right after I get back from picking up framing supplies in the morning. The story with the table and Beta is my neighbor, George, may he rest in peace. George died several weeks ago, now. He was only 62. A small guy, but very private. My neighbor, Bill, is slowly going through his stuff and Shorebirds will be the receipient of some of it. I talked to Bill, tonight. George never threw anything away. He has stuff in his apartment (which they're keeping rented through December so they don't have to rush) from 1970. He had no family, and very few close friends. I'm glad Shorebirds will be getting some of the stuff he treasured, we'll treat it with respect and try to find homes where it will become a treasure again.
The moral of my story here, is, why store all the stuff that someone will throw out when you're gone...save the best and get the rest to a new home. Perhaps, coming into Shorebirds, where we'll treat your stuff as the treasure it is, and find it a new home to both our benefit.
Happy de-stuffing.
Karen

Saturday, June 21 (I think)

I got to man the store today while Pat visited with Kids in Portland (Happy Birthday Sara). Sara is our IT expert and Pat took the computer up for a little tweaking. I guess Alex (Pat's grandson) and Rudy (Shop Dog) got along famously, i.e., toddler drops food, dog eats food, dog follows toddler everywhere.

At the shop, there was a nice steady flow of visitors. Many were in hysterics at the comments made by the "Perfect Man" doll in the shop and I had some small visitors rolling on the floor with the resident "Tickle Me Elmo".

There was a great car show, parade and all sorts of events going on. Lots of fun things to do in the sleepy little town of Waldport. The weather didn't hold up, we had a few sunbreaks but it's drizzle this evening.

See you tomorrow, oh wait, I wanted to share one more picture with you. The Brown Pelicans were migrating through last week and I managed to snag this shot. Is this cool or what? Tomorrow I'll start talking about our Vendors, our foundation and our favorite people.

Karen

Bobcat

I just found this piece under some other stuff. I started it in November and never finished. He's finished now, he he.

Karen

Black and Tan Pomeranian

This is part of a duo I'm working on. This one, fortunately gave me no issues and came out very nice. My other one has been dubbed a Grizzly Bear and I am having trouble convincing anyone it's really a pomeranian, so, it's gone to the fire pit and I'm re-doing the whole pic.

This was a private commission. I felt so bad about the Grizzly Bear that I gave her free framing, and I'm still going to do a do-over. Client satisfaction is extremely important, and she works for the newspaper. Don't want to get on the wrong side of the newspaper in a small town like this one.

8x10 Black Ampersand Scratchbord.